Following the full-scale aggression by the Russian Federation on February 24, 2022, Ukraine was drown into a severe armed conflict. As a result of the hostilities, Ukrainian students lost the capacity to attend their educational institutions, especially those located near the front lines, and were forced to resort to distance learning. Through EU4Skills Programme, the EU is providing Ukraine's vocational education and training institutions (VET) with the support they need to continue their work. By the end of September 2023, 25 of these institutions had already received IT equipment, including laptops, printers, and interactive panels. This will facilitate distance learning for more than 16,000 students, with a particular focus on schools that were relocated from frontline areas to safer locations.

Henrik Huitfeldt, Acting Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Ukraine, emphasized: “The EU remains committed to supporting Ukrainians, addressing their most critical and urgent needs, including those of internally displaced persons. EU and EU Member States will continue to bolster VET schools’ capacity to provide learning opportunities through the investing in digitalization and skills”.

Digitalization empowers VET students to access education under any circumstances. The provision of IT equipment is an integral part of EU4Skills’ efforts to ensure VET schools can sustain the educational process. Under this initiative, EU4Skills has distributed 183,000 textbooks and 400 generators to all regions of Ukraine. These measures have supported over 300 VET schools in maintaining educational continuity during the ongoing war.

Background information:

EU4Skills is a programme to support the reform of vocational education and training in Ukraine. The programme is supported by the EU and its Member States, namely Germany, Finland, Poland and Estonia. EU4Skills is aimed at modernising vocational education and training institutions, training school managers and teachers in seven pilot regions: Chernivtsi, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Rivne, Vinnytsia and Zaporizhia. Programme’s duration is 2019-2023. EU4Skills is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in close cooperation with Finish, Polish and Estonian partners; and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). 

For more information, please contact Olena Solonets, email: olena.solonets@giz.de